Australia is one of the most multicultural societies in the world and developing school students’ intercultural capabilities is a priority for schooling embedded in the National Education Goals for Young Australians, known as the Melbourne Declaration (MEETYA, 2008).

The Doing Diversity project involved intensive work in 12 diverse profile schools in Melbourne, Australia, that examined the facilitators and impediments to the intercultural capabilities described in the Victorian and Australian curricula for students and schools.

What is the state of youth participation in 2018? What do trends, such as rising populism and nationalism and the influence of technology mean for the future of youth participation in Europe? How to understand and define participation?

You can read about it from the fresh publication by SALTO Think Tank on Youth Participation which was written by Alex Farrow and co-created with thinkers from across the European continent. This paper aims to harness collective expertise, experience and perspectives: the first section considers the state of youth participation and explores the models that assist in defining, analysing and evaluating participation. It particularly notes the lack of reliable and comprehensive data and provides an overview of the European policy landscape. Building on this foundation, the second section considers the new and emerging trends in participation and youth activism – such as threats from the far-right, shifting expectations and power and the use of technology as a tool for change.

In 2011, Museum Victoria launched the Identity: Yours, Mine, Ours (IYMO) exhibition at the Immigration Museum in Melbourne. This major long-term exhibition targeted secondary school students as a primary audience, its key themes addressing curriculum units relating to identity, belonging and ethnicity. The exhibition’s core aims were to provide a dynamic participatory environment that encouraged reflection, challenged assumptions and compelled visitors to think about ways they could effect positive change in their everyday lives.

This project aimed to understand the public role of museums in countering racism and promoting positive attitudes and acceptance toward people from diverse racial, ethnic and cultural groups.

The Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria (ECCV) and the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation (ADI), Deakin University share a common concern with understanding intergenerational issues among newly arrived communities in Victoria. Intergenerational relationships serve as both a strength and vulnerability during the often harsh process of family migration. These tensions are often not easily understood by research and policy makers, not least because community emotions can fall outside the scope of the policy process. Compounding this is a contemporary policy climate focusing on social cohesion and disengaged youth.

This study examines the nature of relations between parents and adolescents in newly-arrived migrant communities in Victoria, Australia as they negotiate the challenges of migration, settlement and integration.

The course Interreligious Understanding Today has been designed to meet this need. It consists of two modules (part-time and flexible) – 'Exploring the Principles' and 'Addressing the Issues' – which together with Induction and Conclusion weeks lasts for 10 weeks in total.

Discover the international journey of four young people with different religious beliefs, who have travelled together in more than 20 countries in the world in order to better understand how people live their religious and non religious beliefs, as well as their concrete actions to manage a peaceful coexistence in society.

Since 2001, Dedalus, a Neapolitan social cooperative, has been conducting numerous projects of intercultural dialogue, to promote a culture of living together in peace. Among several areas of focus, including women's rights and marginalized urban communities, the cooperative dedicates great efforts to addressing lonely underage youth immigrating in Naples, as well as ensuring the respect of their human rights such as security and education.

Their initiatives include material, administrative and legal support as well as linguistic-cultural mediation, activities related to discover and share intangible heritage, Italian language classes, professional training to develop skills for specific working environments...: discover on their official website the details of their work, that drives a strong dynamic to spread a culture of living together in peace!

An new African musical piece for children brought by Akoo Books, a publisher and digital distributor of African audiobooks based in Ghana, to introduce them to the individual instruments of the African orchestra and accompany the story ‘Suma Went Walking’, written by Nana Dadson. Each character is represented by an African musical instrument and theme, 10 amazing instruments in all!

It tells the story of a girl, Suma, who takes a walk and meets animals who compare themselves to her. The story is written in English and has been translated to 8 different African languages. The idea of a pan-African symphonic story was inspired by Prokiev’s ‘Peter and the Wolf’. The motivation behind this prokject is the wish to make a composition that would bring the magic and excitement of African musical instruments to children and provide an exciting new way to engage them with the performance of African music in schools.

Such project facilitate an intercultural dialogue thanks to its translation in multiple languages, bringing to many children knowledge about a significant part of African intangible heritage: music!

“Most Australians form their views on public issues, particularly those in relation to migration and diversity, from the mainstream media and political discourse. Simplistic, reductionist and negative reporting of African-Australian youths leads to whole communities being stigmatised to a point where it is acceptable for them to be publicly denigrated and ostracised,” Professor Mansouri said.

Discover the entire article in which UNESCO Chair of Cultural Diversity and Social Justice / Professor Fethi Mansouri responds to a moral panic over ‘African gangs’ in Australian media narratives and called for contextualisation of the issues surrounding these sensationalised reporting.